Recently released by the folks at ICM is the Focke-Wolf Fw-189C/V-6 in 1/72 scale. The kit received my attention due to the unique shape of the cockpit as well as the resemblance to the American P-38. The kit builds with relative ease, but I would recommend it to modelers with experience in dealing with smaller parts.

The real aircraft came from the experience gained by the Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War as a needed attack aircraft. Powered by two Argus As410A-1 engines, each providing 465 hp, the plane had a service ceiling of 6800km (4225 feet) and a maximum speed of 368 km/h (228 mph). The plane carried two 20mm cannons and up to six 7.92mm machine guns as well as up to four bombs. While the plane tested well in 1940, the Henschel Hs-129A would be selected for production.

Upon opening the closed cardboard box beneath the box top, you will find a single plastic bag containing six labeled sprues of gray plastic, two clear sprues (these are contained within a separate bag inside the main bag), a decal sheet, and color instructions. While building this variant will require the use of 109 gray parts and three clear parts, the kit contains an additional 68 gray parts and 18 clear parts, no doubt for other alternatives of the plane. The decals provide the markings for the single test aircraft.

Construction begins with assembling the single or double machine guns for the rear of the cockpit, then installing the selected assembly within the cockpit external halves.As you can see in the pictures, I selected the single machine gun and will comment that nothing holds this in place once the fuselage halves are mated. A small cross molded on the barrel prevents it from sliding back into the cockpit, but it can move up, down, and sideways on its own. The instrument panel (part B1-4) is well designed and while a decal is provided, I opted to just paint the instrument faces as the cockpit cannot be seen once the outer piece is in place due to the small windows of the plane.

Some of the control surfaces can be moved and these parts have small pins on the ends which are then trapped between other parts to stay in place. I mention this as you begin installing these items in step 04 as you are building up the cockpit. Assembly continues with the underwing portions of the tail booms followed by the booms themselves and the tail control surfaces. The engine housings are next followed by the outer wings then the tail boom assembly, the engines and outer wings are added in a single step. The landing gear and doors are added to the otherwise completed plane followed by the underwing bombs.

I had minimal issues with the assembly of the kit overall. Be sure to take your time when aligning the parts for the main landing gear as this is a little tricky. I left part A9 free to move to aid in the alignment and I also left parts A22 (two parts, same part number) out of the main gear bays until after painting to prevent damage while masking. I opted to use CA glue for the rear landing gear as it is connected by two small points that look fragile to me. Finally, I used Model Master Acryl RLM 02, 65, 66, 70, and 71 for the overall colors as well as AK Paint Marker Tire Black.

As far as my hits are concerned, the moldings were clean and required minimal clean up, and the panel lines were sharp. I like the addition of separate exhausts on the engines with dimpled ends in the moldings. The instructions provide a template for creating masks for the four cockpit windows and single landing light that all worked great. The decals had minimal carrier film surrounding each item and they set well with Micro Set alone, but I still used a coat of Micro Sol out of habit. Overall, this is a nice kit of a unique subject.

While I had no real misses for this kit, my wing walk decals folded when I was removing them from the paper, so I ended up leaving them off. These seemed a little larger than the area they were intended to cover as well. I needed to use multiple coats of Solvaset to get the large crosses on the underside of the wings to settle over panel lines. These were the only two decals that did not settle with the Micro Set and Micro Sol combination.

Overall, I would highly recommend this kit to modelers with some experience with small parts looking to add a unique looking German prototype attack aircraft to their collection.The kit was fun to build, and did not present any daunting problems during the assembly.

My sincere appreciation goes out to the folks at ICM for providing this sample for the IPMS/USA to review! Slava Ukraini!